


of blades in the light and fangs in the night

by solsticeScriptures



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Demonronpa, Demons, I'm honestly not sure what to put here, I'm not good at writing gore, Maybe gore? I don't know, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pepto Bismol Blood, There may be OOC-ness, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-04-04 08:55:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4131646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solsticeScriptures/pseuds/solsticeScriptures
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>maybe ignorance is a good thing after all.</p>
<p>because no one wanted to ever get roped up into this huge mess.</p>
<p>especially not into a battle between hope and despair,</p>
<p>with a looming threat hanging overhead</p>
<p>(description may be updated in the future. demon au for dangan ronpa, but mostly super dangan ronpa 2.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Memento Mori

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: 12/1/15
> 
> i actually took a hiatus from this and looked over it again, and thought out some rough ideas. still not a hundred percent sure where i'm going with this, but i do have a bit of a rough idea! updated this chapter slightly to fit more with the new plot of the fic.
> 
> (note that characters may be kinda ooc but please let me know if they are!)

Hajime Hinata was as you could call it, utterly normal. He didn’t seem to have any sort of talent whatsoever, unlike the people he called his friends. Chiaki Nanami was one of the best gamers in the country, while Nagito Komaeda’s luck was so fucking _insane_ to the point where he was now wealthy with his family dead due to a comet crashing into a plane he and his parents were in. Not only that, but the plane was also one hijacked by a terrorist.

Yet Nagito had been the only one to survive everything, inheriting _everything his family ever had._ It could be safely said that he had such good luck that once he managed to beat Russian Roulette at the highest difficulty possible, with a one-out-of-six chance of survival.

Despite all that, the three of them got along pretty well. Although Nagito was rather, to say it bluntly, insane and extremely unpredictable, and Chiaki seemed strange sometimes. Sometimes, Hajime even felt like he was the only sane one among the three of them.

Nevertheless, they were the dream team, so close to each other. Hajime always thought it would stay like this somehow through their years.

How blissfully wrong he was, being so immensely ignorant.

 

 

It all started when he was about fifteen. He had just gone out with Chiaki. She had originally insisted on both Hajime and Nagito coming out with her to wait in line for the launch of a new video game. She had been so hyped for it lately, a strange aspect of her usual sleepy personality. In the end, Hajime ended up getting roped into going while Nagito managed to back out of it.

“I’m not really feeling that well,” Komaeda had said then. It was true, despite sounding like an excuse. He seemed to appear paler than usual. In any case, the fluffy-haired boy was allowed to stay back at Chiaki’s apartment while Hajime and Chiaki went to queue for the game.

By the time they had reached the gameshop (at an abnormally early time in the morning), there was already a short queue. Some people were even camping outside in an attempt to be the first one with their hands on the game.

The two joined the back of the slowly-growing queue. Chiaki had turned to Hajime, her eyes shining. “I can’t wait to get the game!”

“Chiaki, I know, but was it really necessary to wake up at 4am to get here?”

Chiaki got a stern look at her face then. With one hand on her hip, she pointed the index finger of her other free hand at Hajime. “Hajime, do you even know what this is about?”

“Ehm, no?”

Chiaki’s eyes widened. “You don’t know about the release of the sequel to the murder-mystery game, Despair Island?”

“Chiaki, I’m not as into games as you are. You just told Nagito and I that it was a new game and we didn’t really listen to you talk on and on about what it was.”

Chiaki’s face fell for a bit, before brightening up again. Reaching into her bag – pink with a kitty head – and taking out a pink game console, she thrust it into Hajime’s hands. “I brought the first game and the console with me, so we can play it while waiting for the game shop to open.”

Hajime had taken the console, examining it closely. He didn’t actually know where the power button was, but didn’t want to say so to Chiaki. “When _is_ the shop opening though?”

“Oh, at about eleven.”

“Eleven huh- wait, what?”

“Hajime, if I told you when it opened, you wouldn’t have agreed to come with me.”

“I know, but still! We’re waiting for seven hours for one game?”

“Yes. What’s wrong with that?”

The brown-haired boy stared at the pink-haired girl, stunned.

“Hajime, why are you looking at me like that?”

 

 

The two had sat down in line, playing the game. Chiaki had charged it overnight before the two left, so it had plenty of battery to satisfy the duo. Even when it eventually did run out, Chiaki simply reached into her bag, bringing out a Nintendo 3DS – also fully charged. When either of them got hungry, one of them (mostly Hajime though, since Chiaki was too into her game to leave) would run down to the twenty-four-seven supermarket to get food. When the nearby café opened for the day, they went there instead. Coffee may have tasted horrible to Hinata, but the surge of energy he got was worth it.

They sometimes went on adventures to find a place that wasn’t occupied to use the toilet.

The queue outside _did_ grow immensely long over the span of seven hours. Truly, the game had a huge fanbase (that was especially creative and insane, Hinata had learned while in queue) and lots of people had wanted to buy the game. Occasionally, some rich guy would come up to them and bribe them to let him queue in front of them for money. Needless to say, Chiaki refused. She viewed the entire thing competitively. Fair was fair, after all.

Eventually, the time _finally_ hit eleven, and they could get in. Chiaki quickly bought the game so as to escape the surge of oncoming fans. The two began to make their way back to Chiaki’s apartment. Nagito was probably awake at that time. They had stayed over the previous night after all.

But one thing the two had learned in the end was, no matter how hard they tried, Nagito Komaeda was, and would be, forever unpredictable and impossible to read.

 

 

Hajime was the first one to see the bloody mess in the small apartment, having gotten the key from his pink-haired companion. He had opened the door, expecting to see Nagito maybe on the sofa, or doing something somewhere, but he certainly didn’t expect to see what he had seen.

The first thing was how badly strewn about all the furniture was. The sofa was tipped over, kicked to one side. The glass on top of the coffee table was shattered into pieces. Everywhere he looked, all pieces of furniture was in the same shape. It was an utter mess.

The second thing, was the body.

The crimson blood oozing on the pink-carpeted floor was fresh, it certainly wasn’t dried yet. Even from a distance, it looked sticky and absolutely sick. When traced to the source, a hand with a knife stabbed into it could be seen. Blood leaked out of the wound, trailing lazily across the palm towards the floor, dripping onto the carpet in-between each finger.

That wasn’t the worst part of the entire mess. No, it was only the beginning.

A goddamn SPEAR (to this day, he was still unsure where he got it) was stabbed straight into the boy’s chest, more of that horrid red staining the already-torn-into-shreds white shirt that was so familiar. He was pretty sure that if he strained his eyes, he could spot faint lines of white in-between the cracks of the blood, which was absolutely _sick._

Although it was hard to see, Hajime was pretty sure that the pair of black pants worn by the body were splattered with blood in some parts.

Nagito’s face, eyes glazed and half-shut, his mouth flecking with tiny white bits of foam, stared at the ceiling, unresponsive. Nearby, a bottle that once contained pills was knocked over, the tiny bits of white scattered over the floor.

Nagito Komaeda was dead.

 

He… was dead?

 

Nagito was dead?

 

The last few things Hajime Hinata was aware of was Chiaki Nanami running into her apartment, a look of utter horror on her face as she approached Nagito’s body. Then, he blacked out and collapsed onto the ground.

 

 

When he came to, he was outside the lift lobby of Chiaki’s apartment block, there was yellow police tape barricading the area outside Chiaki’s apartment nearby, and he felt like someone had cracked his head into pieces. Although, it wasn’t as bad as he would have expected, having collapsed on the floor in shock and horror at the sight of Nagito's body.

Nagito’s body.

When he turned to Chiaki to ask her if it was a real thing or just his dream, he met her stern face, though her eyes betrayed her true emotions.

“Nagito's dead.”

 

 

To be honest, over the span of three years, Hajime Hinata didn’t move on much from Nagito Komaeda’s death. He still visited the graveyard that his body was buried in after the police finished investigating. They concluded it as a suicide.

Hajime thought he knew Nagito, but he was so wrong. No one truly knew Nagito.

At least he still had Chiaki, who had gotten over the shock of their dead friend’s suicide faster. It was thanks to her that he managed to even accept the fact that Nagito was now dead.

The three years since his death was a blur of things Hajime didn’t really bother to remember much. When he thought about Nagito, he felt a rush of so many different emotions – anger at his sudden departure, grief at the fact that he was dead, and a tiny little prick of regret, that he never got to say one thing before he decided to leave.

The only thing Hajime Hinata had left of Nagito Komaeda was a bunch of old memories, bittersweet when he remembered them. (And also some of his stuff, but we don’t talk about why Hajime took Nagito’s favourite pair of panties.)

 

 

It was a regular day when everything began again. Hajime was just on the way to meet Chiaki at her house. The crowd of people surging on the roadside was larger than usual, making it hard for Hajime to get there faster, goddamn it, why did girls move in such slow groups?

He managed to squeeze past a bunch of girls when he thought he could have spotted a faint glance of something white in the distance. White and grey, actually.

Taking another quick look to confirm it, overlooking some short guy in front of him, Hajime realised that it really was that insufferable prick.

Nagito Komaeda was back, and further down on the street, walking about casually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you've read the whole thing, I love you.
> 
> I've always been into demonstuck when I was still in the homestuck fandom, and I was kinda upset about the lack of a demon au that I like when I joined the dangan ronpa fandom. so why not yolo the whole thing, and make everything up myself! (well mostly everything hahafukc)
> 
> i'll try to update soon! (haha this fic is trash and I am trash)
> 
> edit 12/1/15: chapter has been slightly modified! may be changed in the future as well.


	2. Of Conversations and Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime has a bit of a conversation with Chiaki, regarding things that he saw on the streets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M H ECKING SORRY ABOUT MY... MONTH LONG BREAK OR SO
> 
>  
> 
> school got in the way of writing but hopefully i'll find time to update again soon. no promises though!
> 
>  
> 
> note: lots of dialogue. im sorry my writing is crap and i can only do dialogue and it sucks and everything is ooc and oh my god im bad at this

“So tell me what exactly happened again.”

“Chiaki, I thought I’ve already told you everything?” A sigh could be heard.

“Mm… It just feels like something’s missing. Or that you’ve deliberately left out some information about what happened earlier.”

“Or maybe because you’re concentrating too much on your game, and didn’t hear the full story.”

At that remark, Chiaki finally looked away from the television screen, where the ink-splattered turf war raged, and at Hajime. “So, you’re implying that I am too locked into this multiplayer match to pay attention to you talking.” Huffing, she turned back to the screen.

An unfortunate kid out there was splatted by Chiaki, who showed no mercy in the rounds. An awkward moment of silence hung in the room.

As soon as the match was completed (Chiaki’s team winning by a landslide), Chiaki put down the console. “So now that the match is completed, will you tell me the _full_ story? And I will listen to you with my undivided attention so that you won’t complain of me having forgotten what exactly you said.”

“OK, first of all, that was totally unnecessary.”

“Hajime.”

“Sorry.” Hajime scratched the back of his head, a habit he developed sometime in the past. “Thing is, the whole situation ended up… kinda confusing?”

“Go on.”

“I mean, it was really crowded there, and now that I think about it, it could have been like, a figment of my imagination or something? I mean, it did happen before.”

“Mm, yeah.” Chiaki looked deep in thought, her face creased up. “But weren’t those only just after… well, I think you get the point here.”

“I thought that too? But I’m not exactly sure.”

“Huh. Just repeat the whole incident from the start. I’ll probably have an idea about what happened after listening… I think.”

“So here’s what happened then.”

 

 

“It was more or less just a regular day, and I was just… on my way here.” Hajime started, thinking back to what had occurred earlier. “And, I honestly think it was just some sorta figment of my imagination, but I saw Nagito…?”

“…Was he fine?”

“If you mean in the sense that he didn’t appear bloody with a spear through his chest, yeah he was clean. It was like a regular day, he was walking on the streets. Except he’s supposed to be _dead._ ”

What Hajime said was true though. Maybe he had paused, his mind trying to process what he had seen clearly, at that time. But he was certain he had seen Nagito at that time. Now?

He wasn’t so sure.

“Mm… Just because he seemed to be dead doesn’t mean he actually was though.” Chiaki asserted. Hajime stared at her.

“Never mind. Go on. What happened afterwards?”

“You know, if you see someone you lost contact with for several years on the streets, what would you do? In the sense that you still do think about them a lot, I mean.”

The pink-haired woman pondered for a moment, her eyes thoughtful. “…I don’t know?”

“Great. Thanks. So anyways, I end up trying to push through the crowd to talk to him. I mean, he’s supposed to be dead. And then he just shows up on the streets like ‘bam bitch, I’m actually alive’. It feels like someone whacked me in the face with the truth. Except the truth isn’t humanly possible.”

“ _Hajime._ ”

“Sorry.”

 

 

What happened on the street from that point on did get quite a bit confusing. Especially from Hajime’s point of view.

“So, he disappeared into thin air?”

“I know it sounds crazy but that’s what happened. One second he was nearly right in front of me, the next he was gone. As if my day could have gotten any crazier.”

He _was_ speaking the honest truth, though.

“And then I just got on with my stuff after a while. And then I came here. With food. That you told me to get while I was on the way here. And… that should be it, I guess.”

Chiaki was silent after Hajime had concluded the story (although it was a shitty one). She just sat there on the white sofa in silence, thinking, wondering. She was always the best at that in their trio.

During times in the past when the three of them slept over at Chiaki’s house as kids, she would tell them stories if she wasn’t sleeping or sucked into a game. And they seemed weird and different, fantasy stories with streaks of realism that could prove the stories true.

Her stories seemed like the kinds that wouldn’t appeal to both Hajime and Nagito but the truth was that the two of them loved hearing Chiaki go on about kingdoms in the previous centuries, of creatures bound by the rules of fantasy and fiction. They didn’t always end happily, sometimes everything would fall into ruins, a despair-inducing ending, as Nagito would call it. Other times, the good of the world would triumph over evil, leading to a hope-filled ending.

Hajime still wondered if Chiaki remembered all those stories she would make up, or if she had forgotten about them. Honestly, if she couldn’t recall all the stories (even Hajime himself had trouble remembering the whole plot of some of them), it wouldn’t have surprised him.

“Hajime.”

Hajime blinked, jolting back to reality. Chiaki was staring at him now, face passive as ever.

“Hm? Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking back to a bunch of things in the past.”

“Hajime, do you remember those stories I would tell when we were kids?”

“…Yeah.”

And she was looking at him now with those pink eyes of hers, seemingly expecting him to understand what she was trying to subtly tell him.

Maybe the reason why Chiaki had such great stories was because she hid a bit of truth in them.

“Wait, do you mean that-?”

“If you believe that Nagito is truly alive, then there can’t be a reasonable logical explanation for that. It means that the only possible ways for him to be alive has got to be in the lies. And… I’m not sure if you’ll believe it. To be honest, I don’t exactly believe in my stories being true – or at least, having a bit of truth in it.”

“I’m not sure what might happen in the future. But if it includes Nagito returning, as abnormal as it may be, then I’m willing to try and find out.” A small glint lit up in Chiaki’s eyes, one Hajime Hinata hadn’t seen since they were kids. It was the same one he would see while they concentrated on Chiaki sharing her tales.

“Even if the future is uncertain, we can find out the truth behind Nagito’s return… I think. But it’s up to you if you want to join or not.”

 

 

Hajime Hinata was nine years old. He was listening to Chiaki Nanami, with her gap-toothed grin, fantasise about a kingdom where hunters were blessed by the angels of heaven. Nagito Komaeda, his hair an even messier mane of white, was there as well, paying attention to Chiaki’s descriptions of the demons who would lurk in the alleys inbetween the citizens’ homes and shops. Her eyes shone happily as she described the demons having different abilities and traits, luck and fortune, bloodlust and violence, wind and earth, and so on.

And the hunters would go out in the inky blackness of the night, armed with their sharp, blessed weapons.

The two different sides would clash every night, the only witnesses to their fighting being the stars up above in the deep dark sky.

 

 

“I’m in.” Chiaki’s eyes widened, maybe she didn’t expect him to agree to it so willingly, and maybe it was a stupid idea, jumping into it head first instead of taking his usual caution towards things.

“I don’t know if your stories were true or not, but I’m gonna find out. No, we’re gonna find out. Together. Maybe the truth behind this whole thing will be either too obvious or something shocking, but I’m willing to take that risk.”

He hadn’t seen that look on Chiaki’s face in a long, long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have never played splatoon because damn it nintendo RELEASE THE WII U IN SINGAPORE OFFICIALLY ALREADY
> 
> finding a wii u in singapore is like trying to find a shiny pokemon
> 
> also, in case you didn't notice, i edited the tags a bit. i'll add characters as they come, and the ship is... different now hahafuck save me before i mess everythi n g up
> 
> i'm also really bad at honour fics and stuff so i'll be referring to them by the... english release?? add that to the ever growing flaws with this fic
> 
> (side note: if anyone has played the first game, bc damn it singapore i cant find trigger happy havoc anywhere, please, sos and help me i need to pin down ONE CHARACTER who will be more relevant in this fic among the sdr2 gang)
> 
>  
> 
> (im sorry for lateness please feel free to reserve my first born as punishment)
> 
> edit 12/1/15: edited a bit, but nothing much


	3. You Don't Just Drag Someone Away In Public

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We move onto the second arc, following a princess and a familiar person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit. i am so sorry for my three months hiatus, four months? who knows.
> 
> i recently worked up the inspiration and motivation to look over the plot and scribble down the significant characters and rough ideas of how the three arcs will go in this, and how they'll overlap each other.
> 
> speaking of arcs, we're switching arcs in this chapter. i'll try to switch arcs as chapters go on.

Whenever people looked at Sonia Nevermind, she always seemed like the epitome of a princess. With her elegance and grace, her polite attitude towards meeting new people, and her knowledge of many different things, she was often praised by people as the so called “ultimate princess”, despite there not being such a thing.

Yet looks could be deceiving.

When guests of the royal family in Noveselic, the country Sonia was from, turned around to carry a conversation with each other, a small swish of her index finger helped Sonia to get the job of pouring tea for them easier, levitating the teapot over the cups. When they turned around, all the cups were filled in such a short time that it didn’t seem possible.

They simply passed it off as her marvelous talent, looking at her hands clasped together as she smiled at them.

 

 

As soon as the school day was over, and the classrooms were cleaned, Sonia hurried down the steps of Hope’s Peak Academy, having changed out of her school uniform in the dorms earlier. Clutching the strap of a bag slung across her chest, she headed out of the gates of the highly prestigious high school, well known across the entire country.

Hope’s Peak Academy was a school extremely well known as the school for students with exceptional abilities. While most of the students had to pay quite a hefty sum to get in, and pass an entrance exam known to be one of the hardest in the country, there _were_ scholarships given to few selected students.

Sonia, however, was just a regular student. She flew in from Noveselic to study there, passing the entrance exam with only a bit of trouble, and the school fees were no problem at all, paid for by her family, who thought it would be a good change to study there rather than being schooled privately back in her home country.

Despite being popular in school though, being the princess of Noveselic and all, she preferred to go out and walk along the streets by herself rather than attend one of the many clubs the school had to offer. That didn’t stop many of her fellow schoolmates from often pestering her about joining one, specifically the clubs they were in. She turned them down each time, with the excuse of wanting to learn more about Japan’s culture while she was there.

The excuse worked a lot at the start of the school year. But now, it was already the second term of the school year, and more people were insistent in her joining.

It wasn’t that Sonia dislikes being with them. In fact, she enjoyed their company during the day.

It was just that sometimes, she needed to be alone for a while, away from the responsibilities of being a princess, and away from social contact with her peers.

So as she stepped down the familiar streets, feet tapping on the cement pavement in the same direction she always went to, she could finally allow herself to inhale deeply.

And exhale.

 

 

Her routine was normal. She would head to the nearby café first, ordering a simple coffee, and upon receiving the drink, she would pour several packets of sugar into it. The sweeter, the better.

What happened next would vary. Sometimes she would walk down the streets, passing the many shops. Seeing a new volume of the horror manga she enjoyed, she would gasp over it before eventually purchasing it.

Sometimes she would stop by a nearby park and sip her coffee while sitting on a bench, watching the nearby children run around, laughing as they played games with each other. It made her wistful, wishing that sometimes when she was a child herself that she had more freedom to actually meet people her age and play freely like that.

There were idiots, of course, people who knew about her status and thought it would be fun to try and kidnap her for a large sum of money. They were swiftly taken care of, and often found confused and bruised, with broken bones, in secluded areas the next day.

 

 

What she didn’t expect to ever happen though, was to meet someone similar to her. And yet, as she stared down at the short, hooded girl clenching her wrist tight enough to actually feel the pain throbbing, she noted little things about her. Like how her eyes seemed to gleam a strange shade of gold, not something naturally seen in people.

“Can I… help you?”

And glaring up at Sonia, she proceeded to drag the confused princess through the crowds on the street, ignoring her yelp of surprise

Navigating through the sea of people, Sonia had to occasionally shout apologies to the passers-by she bumped into. At one point of time, she collided with a person hard enough for her to drop her coffee cup onto the floor, watching it spill everywhere. Before she could even apologise, the stranger pulled her along.

Eventually, she had taken a detour into an alleyway, pulling Sonia with her. As Sonia leaned against the wall, panting heavily, the girl pulled the hood off her face, resting against the brick wall opposite the one Sonia was leaning on.

When Sonia stood up straight, hands frantically trying to push the strands of hair loose from her neat hair back into its tidy style, the girl looked up at Sonia, eyes narrowed. “First things first, don’t lie to me when answering the questions I’m about to ask.”

Sonia looked down at her, unusually irritated. “I don’t even know who you are-”

“You can ask questions later, skank,” she snapped, her tone furious despite Sonia not even knowing what she ever did to anger her. Heck, the princess didn’t even know who this girl was.

Reluctantly, Sonia shut her mouth.

“First things first,” the girl pointed her index finger in Sonia’s face, “Are you Sonia Nevermind, princess of Noveselic? And don’t bother lying to me,” she added. “I’m not some perverted dick or an idiot who thinks kidnapping you for money would be a brilliant idea.”

Seeing Sonia’s reply, which was a small nod, she folded her arms across her chest. “You better answer the next question honestly or I’ll step on your feet until you bleed and cry for help.”

 

Upon hearing the words she uttered, Sonia froze.

“You’re a witch aren’t you?” The girl questioned. “Or at least you have witch’s blood running in your veins, don’t you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not confident in my skills of writing, so comments are appreciated, especially if i end up writing them rather out of character! (pleasedocommentimsoparanoidthatitakehiatusesforthreemonths)
> 
> also, i made a tumblr for my fics and stuff, and i'll likely update it slowly but if people are interested, i may end up reblogging scrappy sketches and rough ideas i have for this fic and other ones as well! i do have a whole bunch of different fics i intend to write. with only one month of holiday break left, i intend to write as much as i can!
> 
> the tumblr is aether-witches. it's a sideblog so if you get a follow from muumargi, that's me! feel free to talk to me there, i don't bite! (seriously please do if you can)
> 
> chapter four should hopefully be up this weekend or next week! i'm going to try and pre-write as much as i can. if anyone is able to beta read for me, i would appreciate it a lot!


	4. No Explanation Yet, Just a Whole Bunch of New Characters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonia meets a few people. Sort of, if you count watching them bicker as meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry that this chapter's kind of just filler? sorry bout that folks, but i hope you enjoy it nonetheless

As the girl stared back at her expecting an answer, Sonia was panicking internally. Was she found out? Would she be kicked out of Hope’s Peak for knowing how to use magic? If she went back to Noveselic, her family would be so disappointed in her.

“Uh, hello?” The girl waved her hand in Sonia’s face, impatient. “You’re still there, right? Cause if you don’t, I’m gonna push you onto the ground and bop you on the head.”

“Oh, right.” Sonia came back to reality, focusing on the girl in front of her. “And for that question, er, yes I do have witch’s blood in my veins.” If she proved to be a threat, Sonia could probably try to do something about it. Eventually.

The girl puffed out her cheeks. “Oh goodie. Guess I gotta take you with me then.”

“Huh?”

She smirked. “Listen up, princess. I can’t leave you here after you just answered yes to both those questions. You’re coming with me. And don’t worry,” she added, her eyes glinting. “We’re not going to hold you ransom. We’re not that idiotic.”

“‘We’?”

“Just come on! We don’t have time to waste.” The girl grabbed Sonia’s wrist again – though thankfully, the other one – and pulled her along the alley, ignoring her protests yet again.

“Oh and since you asked earlier, I’m Hiyoko. Hiyoko Saionji.”

 

 

Hiyoko dragged Sonia with her all the way out of the alley and far down a street she vaguely knew how to traverse, for she had visited it a few times in the past after school. The good thing was that the crowd there wasn’t as big as the one from the previous street they traversed.

The bad thing was that she was being taken somewhere by a total stranger. She did decide to just see where she was headed before she took Hiyoko out though. Sonia was curious how she knew that the princess had witch’s blood, especially since it was a rather guarded secret.

The tiny pigtailed blonde pulled the taller girl with her until they arrived at a two-story apartment building. After pulling Sonia up the stairs, they stood outside a door. A mat on the floor outside the apartment, with a few potted plants about, all seemingly watered regularly. Sonia noted how lush they were, which meant that someone must have cared for them a lot.

Hiyoko banged on the door impatiently. Sonia winced a little at the unnecessarily loud noise, but didn’t comment on it. If this was where Hiyoko took her, then at least whoever was there must have been familiar with it as well.

A small click could be heard if you listened carefully, and then the door opened to show a tall girl, about ten centimeters shorter than Sonia. Instantly, the first thing Sonia noticed was how absurd and absolutely _insane_ her hair was. It was black, with streaks of white, blue and pink, and some of the hair was tied into two horns pointing on top of the mess of hair that belonged to her.

“Oho, what do we have here?” she sang out, leaning against the open door. “Ibuki was wondering where you went, Hiyoko? You ran out in such a rush, poor Mahiru was trying to get through to your phone for the two hours you were gone! You left your phone here, huh?”  She let out a loud laugh, as Hiyoko froze.

“Oh. Shit,” she breathed. Ibuki looked over Hiyoko’s tiny shape to see Sonia standing there in confusion at what was going on. Her eyebrows rose. “And who is that with you, Hiyoko? Wait, Ibuki suggests that you bring her in! We shouldn’t leave a pretty girl like her out in the cold like that, what kind of people are we? Maybe Hiyoko would do that, but Ibuki certainly wouldn’t! Kyahaha!”

Hiyoko pushed past Ibuki and entered the house, throwing off her shoes as she made her way in. Sonia followed suit doing the same, although she did it more slowly, feeling slightly self-conscious as Ibuki looked over at her while she undid the laces of her boots, slipping her feet out of them.

The door shut. Ibuki skipped past Sonia, making her way into the living room of the house. Sonia knew enough general knowledge about Japan to know that this was probably an Apato. It was a rather big one though, probably one fit for three people.

She walked into the room and stood at the side awkwardly as Ibuki grinned at her, flashing a peace sign from where she sat on a sofa, while someone with short, messy red hair scolded Hiyoko.

“You don’t just go out like that by yourself, Hiyoko! I was trying to contact you for two hours! What if you got caught by someone?”

“Well I didn’t!” Hiyoko snapped back in reply, although her eyes were beginning to water. “Besides, no one’s going to come after me if I don’t use magic in public! Why do you have to constantly be scared that I’ll blow up some pervert in public and get arrested or killed?”

“Because it could happen! Just because you didn’t do it yet doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen!” The redhead let out a frustrated groan. “I’m just worried!”

“Uh, Mahiru?” The girl turned to Ibuki, who pointed at Sonia. “You seem to be forgetting Hiyoko brought a guest.

Instantly, her face blushed red with embarrassment. She brought up her hand to cover her face, muttering small apologies, while Hiyoko snorted loudly.

“Since Mahiru over here is _way_ too tomato red in the face to introduce herself, why not let Ibuki do it for her?” Ibuki grabbed her phone, using it like a mic, while she pointed at Mahiru. “Alright, here’s Mahiru Koooooooizumi! Famous photographer, and **SUPER AWESOME!** ”Ibuki yelled the last bit, causing the other three girls to end up flinching.

“H-hey Ibuki, I think I can take over from here.” Mahiru looked up from her hands, her face still flustered. She stretched out her hand. “Like Ibuki said, my name is Mahiru Koizumi. I hope we can get along.”

Sonia put on a smile, stretching out her own hand to grab Mahiru’s in a handshake. “My name is Sonia Nevermind. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mahiru!”

Mahiru let out a sigh of relief, probably scared that Sonia would react negatively, she guessed.

“Anyways, Hiyoko.” Mahiru looked over at the girl mentioned, who tensed up at the mention of her name. “Why, did you bring Sonia Nevemind of all people here.”

“I… I was investigating! Didn’t you see me using my phone a lot the past few days?” Hiyoko spluttered under Mahiru’s glare. “She- She has witch’s blood! I was investigating that! I thought she could help out!”

“Oooooh, Hiyoko!” Ibuki sang out, eyes fixated on her phone. “Sounds like you’re making up a bunch of excuses, Ibuki can always tell when you’re lying! You stutter and splutter, and it’s worse when Mahiru gives you the Worrisome Death Stare!”

“Alright, alright!” Hiyoko yelped, red in the face. “I was hoping she could teach me how to use my magic! I mean I have a good grip on it but you’re always getting mad at me when I _accidentally_ light a trashcan on fire!”

“Hiyoko,” Mahiru groaned. “I know you had good intentions and all, but you don’t just drag someone and force them to teach you how to use magic! Especially since Sonia Nevermind is a well-respected princess from Noveselic!”

“I brought her here so maybe she could help you out in researching about demons!”

“Are you even sure that she knows about demons, or are you making more excuses for your selfish actions?”

“Noveselic’s legends! Don’t forget about those legends!”

“They’re just legends, Hiyoko!”

“B-but legends can have some truth in them! Y-you said so yourself once!”

“Even if they do have some truth in them, how are you so sure that Sonia _can_ help? Uh, no disrespect intended,” Mahiru added, looking over at Sonia. “Sorry about that.”

 

 

As the pigtailed blonde and the redhead bickered, Sonia stood there awkwardly, before going over to Ibuki, who was wearing earphones and busy tapping rapidly on her phone screen, playing some sort of rhythm game.

As soon as the song ended, Ibuki looked over at Sonia and moved over on the side of the sofa she was sitting on, making space for the blonde. Upon getting herself seated, the wild-haired girl offered her one side of her earphones, which she accepted.

It was going to be a while before she got a proper explanation of what she was doing here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like i may have screwed up their characters quite a bit? i'll never truly be confident in my writing skills, aahaha h ahaha... ha...a. comments about how i portray them are appreciated! especially since i'm not the most confident in my skills.
> 
> at the current moment of uploading this (12/7/15), i currently *do* have chapter 5 written, and chapter 6 being a wip. thing is, i'm trying to pre-write a bit before next year? but if i don't manage to write enough, i may go on another hiatus after i run out of pre-written chapters. sorry about the frequent hiatuses, folks. 
> 
> i'm going to be going to malaysia for a short holiday, so the next update will probably be sometime around the 15th to the 17th? depends on how tired i am and how busy i'll be. 
> 
> i hope you enjoyed this chapter! comments and kudos are very appreciated, and the former makes me all warm and happy inside because aaa, they inspire me to work on the fic and write because i know people like it! sorry bout that ramble.... lm ao
> 
> also, i still need a beta reader! if you're interested, please let me know!
> 
> (i actually did post a few scribbles of some of the character designs so far on aether-witches //tumblr, but i may change them in the future)


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